So I am looking to do a small run of bottles to give family, friends, etc to check out, examine, taste, etc. I have looked into a co-packer as an option but know the case minimums. I do not need that amount for where I am at now. What would be the process for bottling at home for my small test run? I am looking at going with glass bottles and metal pop-button caps.

From what I am understanding through research, the glass bottles are heated, the beverage pasteurized, the bottles hot-filled, then a warm pop-button cap is put on finger-tip tight, and the bottles turned on their side which sterilizes the whole bottle, and then finally cooling to cause expansion of the beverage thus vacuum sealing the cap down. Am I correct on this? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

David

05-24-2009, 01:38 PM

How many are you sending out? Is is carbonated? Why glass?

I take it that you are sending it out as a finished RTD. You can order bottles, plastic or glass from numerous manufactures. I would go with screw on caps first then graduate to the safety seal pop-up cap. You can buy a manual bottle capping unit from any beer making supply house.

Thompsons

05-24-2009, 02:41 PM

It is not a carbonated beverage and we would like glass to be able to recycle the bottles as part of our business plan. PET bottles cap just by having the cap and ring turned onto the bottle correct? I am looking at maybe a couple hundred. I would like safety button caps to ensure a great seal and fresh product. Is my process I listed earlier on par with how non-carbonated beverages are bottled? If I am able to do PET bottles and cap them at home, I would definitely be interested in using the PET bottles.